Seal Beach shootings: Victim turns anger into action

Dec. 28, 2012

Updated Aug. 30, 2013 6:55 p.m.

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Paul Wilson has worked this past year on "Christy's Law," legislation he is proposing that would temporarily restrict gun ownership for people involved in disputed divorces or child custody battles. Earlier this month, he traveled to Washington D.C. with other people who had lost relatives to mass murders. “It's no longer about party lines and which side of the fence you're on," Wilson said. "Enough is enough. Too many lives have been lost. We're better than this.” KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Paul Wilson has been working with a friend on legislation related to gun control after his wife Christy Lynn Wilson was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A photo showing an impromptu candleight vigil out side his home days after the Salon Meritage shooting sits on a table inside Paul Wilson's Lakewood home. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Paul Wilson goes over a wall of crosses that he and his wife Christy Lynn Wilson collected during their 24-year marriage. Christy was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A candle burns 24-hours a day on a counter in Paul Wilson's living room. The flame is in memory of his wife, Christy Lynn Wilson, who was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A note written from Paul Wilson to his wife Christy Lynn Wilson hangs as part of a memorial at his Lakewood home. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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With family photos surrounding him, Paul Wilson reminisces about his wife Christy Lynn Wilson who was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. He's been working with a friend on legislation related to gun control. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Paul Wilson reveals a tattoo he got after Christy Lynn Wilson, his wife of 24-years, was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. Psalms 138:3 reads: In the day that I called, You answered me. You encouraged me with Strength in my soul. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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"You couldn't find one person who had anything bad to say about her," said Paul Wilson as he reminisced about his wife Christy Lynn Wilson who was killed Oct. 12, 2011 at Seal Beach's Salon Meritage. KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Paul Wilson has worked this past year on "Christy's Law," legislation he is proposing that would temporarily restrict gun ownership for people involved in disputed divorces or child custody battles. Earlier this month, he traveled to Washington D.C. with other people who had lost relatives to mass murders. “It's no longer about party lines and which side of the fence you're on," Wilson said. "Enough is enough. Too many lives have been lost. We're better than this.”KEVIN SULLIVAN, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Christy's Law

Paul Wilson of Lakewood is working with attorney Michael R. Balmer and the Orange County Chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to introduce new gun legislation that would prohibit the purchase and possession of firearms—and require its surrender—for a couple engaged in a disputed divorce or child custody case. The law would require both parties to fill out a "firearm notification" form. For either one to keep a weapon, both sides would have to agree that possession of a firearm is not an issue. Violation of this law, if adopted, would constitute a misdemeanor and mandatory jail time.

Source: facebook.com/SupportChristysLaw

Paul Wilson traveled to Washington, D.C., this month to lobby for gun control. And even though his late wife, Christy, was among those killed in the Salon Meritage shooting, she went with him.

Literally.

Wilson keeps some of his wife's ashes in two dark green velvet bags. There's the small one. He travels with that one. "That goes everywhere I go," he said. And there's the larger one. That one, he sleeps with every night.

It's been more than a year since the Oct. 12, 2011 shooting at the Seal Beach salon. But Christy's Cadillac Escaladeis still parked in the couple's Lakewood home driveway. Her clothes are still in her closet. Her cellphone has not yet been shut off.

"That was one of Christy's traits. She was always on her cellphone. And the same with her car. She loved her car.

Wilson was about 22 when he spotted Christy. He told his best friend: "I have to meet that girl."

Their first date was to SeaWorld. By the end of the day, Wilson made his intentions clear: "You have to move in with me or we can't date anymore."

She said yes.

"Christy and I, man, we've had some experiences."

They lived in a tiny place by the beach; "thought it was high society." Went to Jamaica for their honeymoon, but she dislocated her hip water skiing and spent the rest of their nuptials in a hospital room. He slept on a cot next to her bed.

In their 26 years together, they traveled a lot. "We were always together," Wilson said. And they raised three children in the same home she grew up in.

"She wasn't just my wife, she was my best friend," said Wilson, 48. "Even if I went out to dinner with my friends, she would tag along. It was a joke: 'Jeez, Paul, can't you leave the wife at home.' "

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Christy Wilson, 46, was a manicurist at Salon Meritage. Hairstylist Michelle Fournier was one of her best friends. Both women had attended Lakewood High School together and joined the salon when it first opened some 15 years earlier.

On Oct. 12, Christy was scheduled to work later. She went in earlier to have Michelle cut her hair.

When a gunman armed with a bulletproof vest and weapons walked through the door, Michelle was washing Christy's hair. He shot Michelle first. Christy second. Then he shot seven more people. In total, eight of them died. Only one survived.

The day of the shooting, Paul Wilson happened to be at the salon. He got a haircut from stylist Gordon Gallego, a good friend. He remembers Fournier walking in and telling Gallego that her ex-husband had called her and asked her out for a cup of coffee. "I hope you said 'no.' You shouldn't be meeting that guy anywhere," is how Wilson recalls Gallego's response

Wilson was just leaving when his wife arrived for her appointment with Fournier.

Wilson got the first inkling of the horrible news while at work. His daughter was on her way to work at a tanning salon when she saw police and helicopters and yellow tape surrounding the salon off Pacific Coast Highway. She called her dad.

"I called Christy's phone six times," he said. No answer.

Then his phone rang. It was Gallego.

"This is why I screamed: The tone of his voice; it still gives me chills."

The way Wilson recalls it, Gallego said, "I'm hiding and you need to get down here."

"Gordon, where is Christy?"

"You need to get down here right now."

"Gordon, tell me right now that Christy is OK. And he hung up. The phone just went 'click.'"

"And I screamed. And my whole office watched me run out into the street and drive away."

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It's been a tough year for Wilson, his daughter Kielynn, 23, and his sons, Konner, 21, and Kaesen, 18.

Yes, he's hung on to many things that remind him of his wife. And his anger is visible at every court hearing, where Wilson sits at the end of a bench and stares intently—the entire time—at the man accused of killing his wife.

Still, the tragedy has not paralyzed him. Wilson is turning his anger into action.

Over the past year he has partnered with an attorney friend, Michael R. Balmer, to write proposed legislation that is narrowly tailored to situations similar to the one involving Dekraai and Fournier. "Christy's Law" would impose gun restrictions upon the filing of a disputed divorce or custody case, pending a hearing in which those restrictions can be waived if all parties agree.

"We're definitely not trying to take away guns from people's hands," Wilson said.

But a divorce or custody battle is a special situation that can sometimes bring out the worst in people, he said.

"We came to realize that in a child custody battle or even a dissolution, people stop acting rationally," Wilson said. "It's a situation that inflames emotions."

Wilson has teamed up with the Orange County chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Last week, he was part of a group of 20 people affected by mass murders who traveled to D.C. to meet with legislators. And he was one of eight victims who met with White House officials after the Newtown, Conn. massacre that left 20 children dead in an elementary school.

"I never thought I would be at this point, sitting in the West Wing, meeting with leaders of our country and talking about gun violence, what it means to me and what it means to our country," Wilson said.

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Christy's Law can be be found on Facebook and at change.org/petitions/support-christy-s-law. The law is in its infant stage but Wilson is hopeful it will wend its way through the California legislature in the next session. "There are a number of people who are interested in championing this," Wilson said.

Wilson, who works in the apparel industry, also opened a new clothing company in honor of his wife. It's called Jupiter Apparel and Sourcing.

The night before her death, Christy lit a candle and said she was going outside to see Jupiter. He joked with her the next morning that she couldn't really see the planet. Then he remembered he had an app he could check.

"She was 100 percent right. 'Alert the news media. No more need for telescopes," he teased her. "And I remember saying, 'You look so pretty right now. She tilted her hair and said 'mmm.'" He smiled back. She always tilted her head that certain way.

"And I tilted my head and said, mmm'... And that was it. The last time I saw her."

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